Responsible to: Better Brick Nepal’s Board of Directors and in close collaboration with Global Fairness Initiative (GFI)
Organizations: The Global Fairness Initiative (GFI) has been implementing the Better Brick – Nepal Program and will transition over management to Better Brick Nepal (NGO) after appointment of CEO.

Duration: One year contract, with possibility of extension and dependent on grant fundingCompensation: Commensurate with Experience

1. Opportunity Background
Over 200,000 workers, of whom as many as 32,000 are children, labor in unhealthy and unsafe conditions in Nepal’s brick kilns. The informal nature of the industry, which operates on the periphery of communities and with little government oversight, has served to entrench exploitive labor practices such as forced, bonded, and child labor. While work conditions are often harsh, the brick industry provides needed income to thousands of unskilled laborers, and in the wake of the Gorkha Earthquake of April 2015 the sector has become a particularly vital source of the jobs and building materials necessary for Nepal’s rebuilding and recovery.
The Better Brick - Nepal Program’s objective is to transform the brick industry by eliminating child, forced, and bonded labor. We incentivize kilns to improve conditions for workers through access to better production techniques, stronger operations, and the creation of a market for ethically produced bricks. To achieve this, long entrenched systems of recruiting workers, paying wages and operating kilns themselves must be reformed and new, locally appropriate, approaches introduced that maintain financial benefit for owners and workers alike. Brick kilns in Nepal play an important role in an economic infrastructure that supports the livelihoods of thousands of workers and provides the raw materials that drive Nepal’s reconstruction and future growth. A future goal of Better Brick - Nepal is to create a more nuanced vision of brick production with wider recognition of good and bad practices where, currently, the sector is largely disparaged on the whole. The impact of creating this “choice” leverages a prevalent interest from kiln owners to find solutions to social and environmental problems entrenched in the sector, and taps into an insurgent demand for responsibility and accountability in the commercial sector in Nepal, led in part by international donor agencies, and amplified in the wake of the Gorkha earthquake.

2. The Better Brick - Nepal Program
The Better Brick - Nepal Program is a collaboration between the Global Fairness Initiative (GFI), GoodWeave International, Nepal GoodWeave Foundation, and 4 local Nepali NGOs, supported by Humanity United. The program’s objective is to incentivize kilns to eliminate bonded, forced, and child labor in the brick industry by increasing market opportunity and improving enterprise viability. Better Brick - Nepal is achieving this objective by utilizing a “tiered” system of engagement to differentiate levels of progress towards improving working conditions, as defined by the Better Brick - Nepal Standards, the program’s levels of engagement and investment on each kiln, and intensities of market facilitation and promotion for the kilns.

Better Brick - Nepal currently has 40 partner kilns, which fall into three tiers - Participant Kilns, Member Kilns, and Certified Kilns. By staggering engagement and investment based on performance, the program can partner with more kilns, more quickly. In addition, by marketing Member and Certified Kilns, the program can start to add in suppliers to meet the increased demand, while also ensuring that a zero tolerance policy on child labor is upheld.

Better Brick - Nepal’s specific objectives are:

Support kilns in sustainably improving working conditions on their kilns and ultimately help them become a viable enterprise that is certified as a Better Brick Kiln

Create a market segmentation for “Better Bricks” and secure buyers interested in purchasing socially-responsibly produced bricks

Generate awareness around the challenges brick workers face among public consumers, policy makers, and decision makers to galvanize support for improving working conditions on brick kilns and creating a market preference for Better Bricks,

Implement a multi-stakeholder engagement strategy to segment the brick market and drive a set of policies and practices that incentivize the production of Better Bricks.

Creation of a local entity – Better Brick Nepal – and strengthening of its capacity to manage the program and supporting initiatives

3. Roles and Responsibilities

The primary responsibilities of Better Brick – Nepal’s Chief Executive Officer are to provide leadership and strategic support to the program and help in the creation and strengthening of a local entity to manage the program.

Leadership & Strategy Building

Serve as a representative of BBN, liaising with local, national, and international stakeholders including government, industry representatives, kiln owners, local NGOs, program partners, buyers of Better Bricks, and international organizations to promote BBN’s objectives and continued success

Identify partner organizations or potential champions of BBN’s objectives, internationally and locally, and manage the outreach and engagement of those relationships

Work closely with GFI’s leadership to continuously refine and improve BBN’s strategy and activities to achieve the program’s objectives

Lead on the development of the market segmentation strategy and supporting marketing initiatives

Actively participate in identifying barriers to success for BBN and strategies for removing project constraints

Work to position GFI and BBN as leaders in improving labor conditions through market-based solutions by speaking at events, preparing publications and issue statements on relevant issues, and continuously promoting the program and our model

Set comprehensive goals for performance and growth for both BBN and staff

Any other duties, as assigned.

Management of BBN Local Entity

Oversee the transition of BBN management from GFI to the local entity, including program activities, staff management, office and financial responsibilities

Oversee the development and implementation of policies, procedures, and processes to help govern the local entity and its operations

Once the local entity has been established and staffed, directly supervise the staff and oversee BBN activities

Coordinate closely with BBN Board of Directors and nurture and manage those relationships and their roles in BBN

Any other duties, as assigned

Program Management

Ensure program implementation is progressing in a timely manner, objectives are being met, and suggest any appropriate programmatic adjustments

Collaborate regularly with program partners such as Nepal GoodWeave Foundation and local NGOs to ensure activities are coordinated, duplication of efforts are avoided, and a consensus on all major decisions is obtained

Contribute to the development of annual work plans, donor report, and any other relevant program reporting requirements

Ensure that all program reports and communications achieve a high-level of clarity and professional quality and that public documents are disseminated to relevant stakeholders in a timely manner.

Ensure strong Monitoring & Evaluation (M&E) systems are in place and used for both programmatic decision-making as well as high-quality reporting to GFI and donors

Any other duties, as assigned

Office and Financial Management

Ensure that contractual and financial obligations are being met

Ensure that policies and procedures are approved, in place, understood, and followed at GFI and eventually the local entity

Oversee a budget tracking and management process that ensures an accountable and transparent tracking of the program budget

Any other duties, as assigned

4. Knowledge and Experience:

10 to 15 years of experience in managing complex projects and teams with demonstrated results

Strong background in strategic planning, business development and/or fundraising

Strong background in management of operations and staff, including understanding of human resources and finances

Previous experience in leading multi-stakeholder engagement strategies, including government, international, and local stakeholders

Strong oral and written communication and presentation skills

High competence using standard office software systems including MS Word, Excel, and PowerPoint

A high level of personal integrity, efficiency, and ability to balance multiple tasks and deadlines

Fluency in both English and Nepali required

Prior experience in setting up a local NGO or strengthening capacity of small NGOs preferred

Prior experience or exposure to brick industry a plus

Success Factors:
The successful candidate will bring a wealth of experience in the management of complex projects and teams as well as strong background in strategic development and excellent skills at engaging and managing multiple external stakeholders with the integrity and capacity to represent a coalition of individuals and organizations responsibly, accurately, and with appropriate cultural and social sensitivity.

How to Apply: Please email a Letter of Interest with most recent CV to: applications@globalfairness.org

Please reference “BBN Chief Executive Officer” in the Subject line

Organization Summary

Established in the year 2002, Global Fairness Initiative (GFI) is an organization which promotes equitable, sustainable approach to economic development for the world’s working poor by advancing fair wages, equal access to markets, and balanced public policy to generate opportunity and end the cycle of poverty. GFI has partnered public policy to generate opportunity and end the cycle of poverty. GFI has partnered with hundreds of marginalized working communities in Latin America, Africa, and Asia to enhance economic opportunities and build sustainable livelihoods. In Nepal GFI started its program Better Brick - Nepal (BBN) to address labor and environmental challenges in the brick kiln industry. The goal of this Better Brick - Nepal is to create sustainable and effective policies and structures that incentivize the socially and environmentally responsible production of quality bricks in Nepal and catalyse market to support the entrenchment of “Better Bricks”.